Maryland fans have every right to be furious with Big Ten referees right now.
During the Penn State-Maryland game on Saturday, quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa trotted out of bounds into the Penn State sideline after sailing a ball downfield.
Penn State defensive tackle Fred Hansard – who wasn’t even in the game at the time – obliterated Tagovailoa out of bounds. To make matters worse, no penalty was called.
This is about as bad as it gets.
It’s obvious Taulia Tagovailoa was expecting Penn State players to slow his momentum, as some opposing players would. Or, at the very least, the nearby Nittany Lions players could have moved out of the way.
Instead, Hansard leveled Tagovailoa and put him on his back. We have no clue how a penalty wasn’t called. To be honest, Hansard probably should have been ejected.
That wasn’t the only egregious no-call made in Big Ten play this afternoon.
During the Ohio State-Nebraska game, refs missed an obvious pass interference call that could have changed the game’s outcome. The Buckeyes got away with it, though, and went onto win the game.
Officiating has become a major issue within college football this season. Too many games have been decided by an obviously bad call or no-call. Let’s hope it gets fixed by the time bowl season rolls around.
Maryland, meanwhile, has every right to complain about Saturday’s Big Ten officiating. Frankly, Tagovailoa is lucky that he avoided a serious injury on the play.